John BerryThis vital signs monitor, manufactured by Welch Allyn, is among hundreds of medical devices that would be subject to a new tax.

A consultant's report released this month rejects the idea that medical device manufacturers will get a windfall of business from the Affordable Care Act.

The act imposes a 2.3 percent tax on medical devices sold in the United States because, the Obama administration says, medical device companies will get a windfall of business when more than 30 million people without health insurance finally get it under the Affordable Care Act.

-- Medical devices are generally used on people older than 60, but 80 percent of the uninsured are under 45 years old.

-- A survey of medical device companies selling in Massachusetts found no increase in business after the universal health care act rolled out there over the past several years.

"(T)rends in Massachusetts, contrary to an expectation for higher medical device utilization rates, actually lagged the rest of the U.S. in the years following the legislation of universal health care," the report stated.

Many device manufacturers, including Welch Allyn in Skaneateles Falls, have announced layoffs or cutbacks in anticipation of the tax, which takes effect Jan. 1. The Roth report said its survey showed that about half of manufacturers planned to cut jobs.

The report also cites a separate 2011 study, however, that found just 17 percent of companies planned to cut jobs. More than half the companies said then they would pass along some or all of the tax to their customers, and a third said they would try to lower production costs without cutting jobs.

The internal report was prepared by Roth and not funded by the industry, said company spokeswoman Isabel A. Mattson-Pain.